So what is film noir? A French term literally translating to “black film,” historians will tell you film noir was an unofficial cycle of American films released in the 40s and 50s that usually centered around stories involving crime and…
Out of the Past: ‘Odd Man Out’ (1947)
Critics often refer to Odd Man Out as a political film, but its director Carol Reed believed his film was apolitical. I agree with the latter. Odd Man Out centers on the conflict in Belfast as the IRA (Irish Republican…
Out of the Past: “The Third Man” (1949)
The Vienna depicted in Carol Reed’s The Third Man no longer exists. It is a maze of sewers, back alleys, political gamesmanship, and lies. Nothing remains except for abandoned bourgeois flats, decrepit buildings and an amusement park devoid of any…